


Skaia Vice

by carnivorousBelvedere



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human/Troll Society (Homestuck), Angst, Blackouts, Buddy Cop AU, Conspiracy, Drug Abuse, F/F, F/M, Gangsters, M/M, Pretty much everyone is in this, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2019-06-01 02:00:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15132608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carnivorousBelvedere/pseuds/carnivorousBelvedere
Summary: The city is going to shit. Drugs run like water, the Felt and Midnight Crew are warring it out for territory, and tensions between species as well as the powered and power-less have never been higher. All in all, Skaia PD has their hands full.Detective Dave Strider is a god tier rank Knight of Time who is slowly but surely losing control of his abilities. Good thing his partner Aradia helps him keep his shit together. It’d be Bad News if anyone found out he was god tier, anyways.That all changes when Aradia gets promoted and he’s assigned a new partner, one he can’t stand.Karkat Vantas is theoretically powerless and probably doesn’t belong on a police force except that he’s damn good at his job... besides the part where his last partner was paralyzed on a case.Dave really messed up when he hooked up with him at last year’s holiday party, didn’t he?





	1. A New Partner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first Homestuck fic I ever wrote! Thank you to AdamantWalrus and notwest for going through this, you guys are true homies

So many dead Daves. 

They blinked into existence with a rapid whoosh of displaced air before the Thief of Time killed them. Every dead Dave became one narrowly avoided timeline. 

The more the merrier, Dave thought bitterly as he leapt over a fallen block of concrete, only to be visually assaulted by two more versions of himself falling lifeless before him. A startled breath escaped him. It was hard to ignore the pang of a destabilized timeline even in the heat of fighting. Blood began to seep through his dead self’s shirt, making his stomach lurch. He could hear his heart pounding. 

Everything was going to shit. Not that it had started off so hot in the first place. 

He held his breath and threaded a time loop through his partner’s timeline, making sure to layer it so that the active editing of time and space agreed. At least he could feed off her stability in times like this, but it was still nerve wracking. Though it was only a few seconds, he braced himself for the feeling of being thrust into the past as he put the loop into motion. When he grounded himself he glanced up to see his partner floating in the air. 

Her aggravation was palpable. Just as Aradia sensed the Thief, he was gone. With a frenzied yelp she froze three areas in quick succession to no avail. Even her copies were getting slaughtered. Her whip was lashing, but her attempts to freeze and restrain were met with thin air. 

It wasn’t often that she let things get this out of control. Her usual level-headedness was nowhere to be found. Even in gunfights he’d still catch her grinning. 

With a grunt he leveled his gun into the empty space, calculating the speed at which the bullet would travel and ideally hit its target, even if it was jumping through space at a rate beyond comprehension. He let loose the shot, which missed the flickering man by a nanosecond. The bullet at least skimmed over an already dead Dave and buried itself into cement. 

“Dave! I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up for!” Aradia yelled at him from across the warehouse floor as she froze the entire room. The dead bodies stopped appearing. “Call it in!”

“No- Aradia- They’ll know,” Dave called back. Time frayed around him as she withheld her power, making him feel woozy and unbalanced. “We can do this!” He leaned into the nearest wooden pallet stack for a moment’s relief. 

“No, Dave! We fucking can’t! Do you know how long I’ve been after this guy? I need some goddamn backup!” 

She unfroze the room. It was too late. The presence was gone, no longer paused for a nanosecond or flickering to the other side of the room. 

“How did he… no. That’s not possible.” She sounded incredulous, floating down and falling to one knee. 

“What’s not possible?” 

“I froze the entire room. He should have been frozen too. He couldn’t have… escaped.” She scanned the room, finally registering the blood and dead bodies. “Wow. This is a hot mess.”

“I’m sorry, ‘radia. I knew you really wanted this one.” Dave walked toward her. “I’m calling Roxy.”  
He picked his phone out of his pocket went to press her contact but stopped, noticing his uneven breathing. He turned away and shoved his way out through the doors. A blast of wind gusted his face and he drunk in the salty sea air. 

Living in Skaia had its benefits, like the fact that it was surrounded by ocean on all sides. Being sworn to protect it? Not so much. Not when overpowered wackos practically ran the place.  
The sun was still out but it was slowly fading over the taller buildings of the city. 

He took a moment to try and figure out what just happened. 

He took an even longer moment to appreciate that he wasn’t dead. Except that he was dead, a hundred times over in the room behind the wall he had his back pressed up against. Time was one of those things you try not to think too hard about, lest you like your brain scrambled with a pat of butter on top. It was an innate understanding that breathed through him and directed him. If he’d made a time loop and it was unfulfilled, he knew. Like an itch you couldn’t scratch. 

Roxy showed up alone. Dave watched from the doorway as her car rolled up, his arms crossed. She was riding in a subtle vehicle from the drug unit she’d been working with and there were no obvious Skaia PD labels he could discern. Stepping out of the car, she pushed her glasses up over her curled hair and frowned at him. She escalated the stairs and stopped in front of Dave, making a point to wordlessly step in a little too close to his personal bubble and lean toward his face. Annoyed at the purposeful breach of his space, he sighed and backed into the door to open it, gesturing to the disarray. 

“Wow. You really did me a doozy this time,” She began to banish the dead Daves and Aradias one by one to her ‘other place’. Aradia had long since gone to the car to write a report that was as fake as their mission was a failure. 

He felt he shouldn’t be too embarrassed. They were dealing with a God-Tier level Time aspect, just like himself and Aradia. Except that he and Aradia were a creme-de-la-creme detective pair and ideally more than capable of taking out one, just one, measly mobster. Usually their time loops together were solid, perfect Rube Goldberg machinations by their hands. And this asshole just completely wrecked them. 

On Dave’s own, though, that was a different story. An anxious thought in the back of his mind told him that today was all his fault, that he was deteriorating and soon he’d be useless. 

He attempted to shift his line of thinking, but the guilt remained. He knew he was being hard on himself. Catching a Felt member by surprise is something to be proud of. Soon the warehouse was just as shitty as when they first stumbled in there, but now less full of dead bodies. 

“Listen, Roxy, thanks. Really,” he said to her in earnest, still hovering near the doorway. It wasn’t the first time he’d called her up for the very same reason, and it very well wouldn’t be the last. 

Just another day keeping citizens safe from evil and overpowered gangsters. 

Roxy shook her head and looked towards him as she excoriated a puddle of blood into thin air. “Dave, we can’t keep this up much longer. You can’t keep this up much longer.” She pointed at him. “You won’t always have me around to clean up after your messes. What if I’m on assignment and you need me? I’m VOID you asshole, I go incognito on cases pretty often!”

Dave flinched. “Don’t lecture me, _Mom._ ” It had extra bite than usual and his usually bubbly sister made a face as she stood and strode back over to him. He sighed and grasped one of her hands in both of his. 

“Sis, you know I only do this when it’s really serious. We almost had him this time. He was the one that got away, I’ll be telling this fish tale for months.” He tightened his hands around hers, silently asking forgiveness. Even it was a ridiculously bloody mess, they had nearly nabbed a member of the famed Felt mob!

“Do you think that catching Itchy is really more important to me than you are?” There was a hesitancy, a hurt in her voice. 

They stared at each other for another second before Roxy tugged him forward into a hug.  
“I’m sorry you have to see yourself killed over and over again. I know… how much you hate that. And I’m glad I can make it go away,” she murmured into his ear.

Dave clutched her a bit tighter. 

He wasn’t dead yet. Not today. 

\---

When Dave arrived home from the day he sought out Rose in her study. He sunk into the chair on the other side of her desk and plucked a pen to fiddle with. Before speaking he broke it apart in his hands and put it back together. “Have I told you I hate my aspect?” 

“Yes, Dave. I believe you make a point to tell me once a day,” Rose smirked and closed her book. Her hair was starting to get longer; it was just below her ears now. 

“See anything interesting today?”

“Oh you know, the usual. Impending doom, the future of the city. Political unrest. Lots of dead alternate timelines. I only had two blinding headaches today,” she spoke with sarcastic pep. “Don’t tell me, you died a lot today, didn’t you?” 

He cocked two fingers at her. “Pew pew, you got me sis. I’ve honestly never seen so many, it was pathetic.”

She reached out and took his hand. “You need to stop doing that.” Her silently pursed lips spoke a thousand more words. He could parse out worry above all. 

“Sis-- I can’t. You know that it doesn’t work like that.” It hasn’t worked like that in a long time. 

“I know, so you say, it keeps happening,” Rose sighed. “Today was really bad, Dave. I don’t know if I should be thankful or not that you narrowly avoid death but I still see you die. Why?”

Dave yanked his hand out of her grasp and settled it back in his lap. Even behind his glasses he avoided her gaze. 

“I don’t know why I can’t make time loops anymore. I just know that I can’t,” he admitted after several long seconds. “How is it supposed to be that I have all this endless ability and can’t even use it? I get one good go a day and no matter what, whoops, I created an alternate reality, better send a dead Dave back to prove it.” He’d spend a good part of his paycheck paying off the department mortician to help him get rid of bodies. At least when it wasn’t dire enough to require Roxy’s skills. “You’d think it’d be simple. Travel back in time, watch the perp commit the crime, go back to the very second you left from. And yet somehow it doesn’t matter. These divergent timelines don’t stop. Did I step on a fucking butterfly? There are so many times a day where I could be like, well if you just time traveled you’d be out of this shitty situation but nope, I’d rather shove my foot down my throat than see myself dead. Well, that’s not entirely true…” he trailed off. He could think of a few times, but that wasn’t a conversation for today. “If I didn’t have Aradia to help me make stable time loops I don’t know what I’d do. And to think I used to be even more powerful than her.”

Rose hummed and brought him out of his thoughts. “You know I have some suspicions this all is from a uniquely… psychological place. If you would just be willing to talk to someone. Someone we could trust.”

“Goddammit Rose, hell the fuck no. I don’t trust anyone out there.” 

She relented, sitting back in her chair and nodding her head, moving her gaze to the side of her desk. “I just don’t want to lose you. Can you at least promise me that won’t happen?” 

Dave nodded weakly, but it was a thin assurance. ‘I’ll be alive tomorrow’ wasn’t exactly a sure promise in their line of work. Her face was still drawn tight with worry and rare confusion when he left her study. 

He left to play games in the living room. At some point, Roxy came up behind him to smush her cheek to the top of head. She squeezed his shoulders and withdrew to the kitchen.  
This inherited home housed the only people he ever trusted. Confusing family heritage or not, he cared about his siblings safety more than anything. They were safe here. 

And he would do anything, absolutely anything, to keep it that way. 

\---

John was the one to break the news to him.

“Oh shit, Dave! You must be seriously excited about your new partner.” Oh John, always the epitome of tact. He liked John and they were good friends with similarly kept high-caliber secrets, except for when he was being an oblivious ass. Back when they bunked at academy, they spent a night watching movies with Jade and breaking dorm rules. Dave remembered grinding his teeth through the movie and trying to send some subtle messages for John to leave. And he absolutely knew John knew, but John just kept jabbering until the end of the movie and Jade needed to leave. 

Dave glared at him from behind his glasses, but his innards were falling through the floor. He couldn’t afford to lose Aradia, not now. Now when his control was worse than ever. 

“Oh yeah? Any chance you want to enlighten me on who the fuck that is?”

When John told him, all Dave could think was, 

_Oh, no, not that guy._

He made his way to Chief Egbert’s office, his feet carrying him before he really realized what he was doing. This was probably why Rose looked so smug at breakfast this morning, the little shrew totally saw it coming. 

Or maybe he just didn’t check his emails. Either way. Smug bitch. 

“You’re lucky to have any kind of Blood tier by your side. And another Knight as well. You know that, right?” Chief lectured him. 

“Let me have Aradia back! There are tons of Knights in the department, why did you have to give me this one?” Dave was vaguely aware of how much of a whiny little shit he was being. 

“You were hand picked for him. Decisions like this get made miles over me. I’m not going to start anything for you.” He gave Dave a pointed look. 

Dave felt his heart sink a little deeper. He gestured down at a stack of papers on the table. “No, no, no, Chief. You see there? That’s your assignments file. Just put me with someone else.” He brought a single finger down and jabbed it into the desk. He tried not to let the desperation he felt bubble up from the pit of his stomach. 

The Chief slowly started to stand up. “Detective, I’m going to be real with you for a second. No one wants your bullshit in their car. I don’t know why your sisters or cousins or whatever are so different, but not even Dirk has a stick as far up his ass as you do. And as you already know, Aradia’s talents are needed... elsewhere. Either way, Tiered tensions are at an all-time high. We need balance out there. You and Megido were anything but balanced.”

Dave snorted, although his point did hit a bit closer to accurate than he’d like. He decided to ignore that. There was no way he was being genuine. “Seriously? As if you don’t play favorites with John! And you know he’s… he’s fraternizing with the spiderbitch! Chief. Really. If he was anywhere else he’s already be fired!” Dave froze and sucked in a large breath. Whoops, bringing up John was a big mistake. He was in for it now.

“Sit the fuck down, Dave.”

Dave sat and sunk under the gaze of Egbert senior. 

“Strider, I’m going to level with you here. You and I both know you aren’t the Tier 5 you make yourself out to be. Time users are not rare. But right now with what’s going on we don’t need two high tier time users in the same car-“ 

“But I’m not-“

“I don’t give a shit, Dave. I’m not going to report you. How long have I known you for?” The Chief sat back down and took off his fedora. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples for a few quiet seconds before resting his hands on the desk in front of him. His fingers folded together over the flattened newspaper he had been reading.

‘Spades Slick Escapes Again’ was printed in bold letters over the top of his knuckles.  
‘Felt Activity At All Time High’ read the other page. 

Dave set his face and prepared his ace. “He’s not even rated. His last partner almost died. Do you want that to happen to me?”

The Chief’s face went so dark he might as well have turned off the lights. “If I hear you throwing that shit around again, I will make it my end of quarter goal to see you kicked back to the SPD. Don’t put your nose where it doesn’t fucking belong.” 

He let that set in before continuing. And it does. The thought of getting demoted back to the uniform part of the gig is enough to make Dave’s throat too dry to respond. “Blood is rare, Dave. They don’t even know how it works. He’s here, and he’s staying. He’s closed way more cases than you have, you’re no hot shot around here. You have to work together.” He brought both hands up and rubbed at his eyes with the bottom both palms, exhaling. He sounded tired more than anything. Dave was tempted to retort but he suddenly didn’t have the energy. He felt himself go still. 

Dave’s eyes, hidden behind his glasses, were focused on the desk in front of him. The guilt set in following the verbal slap. He knew it was taboo to throw around Tier levels, he knew that more than anyone, but he didn’t expect to get shut down so thoroughly. It’s not as if he wasn’t a good officer- he and Aradia had closed a good number of cases together, especially the rather complex ones involving time. Not having a tier didn’t bar a person from a certain profession, but if they were tiered and suited for a specific line of work, it sure would boost their ability to get there. It was plenty controversial. But being Blood meant not having a ranking because there didn’t even exist enough people with classes to rate it out. It made him maddeningly curious. What could a Knight of Blood even do?

Dave let his thoughts wander blankly for a few more seconds in the taut air. He hadn’t responded. 

“This discussion is over, Strider. Get to your post,” the Chief commanded. 

Words continued to escape him. Dave threw himself out of his chair and into the hallway, almost barreling over a terrified intern delivering coffee. 

He didn’t know what was making him more anxious- the fact that without Aradia he’d be unable to time travel without producing messed up timelines, or the fact that his partner was an obnoxious pseudo-weakling. 

He eventually found himself hiding in his cubicle, counting down the minutes until the weekly assignment meeting. He eventually caved and dove into the renewed stack of files on his desk, probably half of the stuff Aradia had left now that she was transferring. He couldn’t help but feel bitter. 

“Why did no one tell me about all the bullshit paperwork before I started this job?” Dave said aloud to the open folder while tapping a pen. He sighed and leaned back into his chair, throwing his arms over his eyes. He couldn’t concentrate, so he let himself think about his main distraction.

He wondered what kind of person Karkat was when it came down to the line, was he an act now, clean up later type of person? Or was he always delicate with whatever situation he walked into? He and Aradia had been pretty heavy handed with all their interactions, and it got them in trouble a number of times. Karkat’s main reputation was his large network of informants. He was actually infamous for it but asking him about it would end in him snapping at you.

“Knock knock,” a familiar voice sounded behind him. Dave’s arms fell and he spun in his chair.

“Aradia! Wow. Thanks for uh, stopping by. I was wondering if you were even going to.” Oh god, he wanted to beg her to stay. Pathetic. 

Aradia Megido gave him a sad smile. “Don’t be so dramatic, you and I both know I’m not really going anywhere.”

They exchanged a knowing look of an unspoken Time joke. A small silence stretched. What does Dave even say to her? How do you partner break-up? How many times did they save each other from a dead future self? From a stray bullet? As his handle on his abilities slipped through his fingers was he ever going to time travel again? 

They’d busted a number of interesting Time cases. Bank robberies where the only lead was the faint alternate reality remembered by a bank teller. Two homicides when a young family member didn’t get as much of the estate that they wanted. That one time they were hunting down a stolen juju only to learn they had black-out dared each other to steal it, prompting the entire case. Such were the woes of arguably the two most powerful Time users in the city. No big deal. 

If he was being entirely honest, they hadn’t really been that close. They had a great professional relationship. They had each other’s backs. The banter was so-so. And he was also terribly dependent on her. The begging option was beginning to sound very attractive. 

Now he was losing her for _that guy_. 

“I’ll miss our time shenanigans,” Dave swallowed and said in a rare moment of transparency. He was being sincere, he doubted his new assignment load would be half as interesting. 

“Wow Strider, that’s the nicest thing I think you’ve ever said to me. Don’t go losing your edge there. You’re gonna need it for your new partner!” Her facetious cheer needled him. 

“God, don’t even get me started,” he grumbled. Everyone was just so happy to rub this in his face. It made his jaw clamp together in annoyance. 

“Listen, Dave, I couldn’t hide it forever. They find out about it eventually. It’s not terrible on the other side, I promise.” 

“You’re getting the worlds shittiest promotion.”

“I don’t think undoing space time temporal anomalies caused by Time crimes is a demotion. Do you? Why don’t you want to do more, Dave?”

Dave frowned and looked away from her. He couldn’t think of, or even begin to give her a decent answer. Not when his ability was more unstable than ever. 

“I joined this gig for a reason,” he mumbled. Once upon a time when I was actually useful, he thought ruefully. 

“Oh, bless you Knights,” Aradia shook her head and smiled, dramatically letting a hand rest over her heart. “Always so dutiful.”

“Yeah, and it’s beyond me why they want two in one car. Chief signed the warrant to end my sanity. Are we supposed to be fighting or protecting each other? The world will never fucking know.” 

Aradia was laughing at him. “I think you two will get along just fine.”

“There’s no chance. The chance of that is so low it kicked my balls when I wasn’t looking. What does Blood even do anyways? What the fuck exactly happened to his last partner?”

“Blood works in mysterious ways! It could mean anything. So interesting they couldn’t even rank him. Try to be open minded.” She kept smiling at him and he couldn’t help but notice she was avoiding that case again. 

There were a few seconds of pause when he sighed heavily, his shoulders drooping, “Why… did you tell them?” 

“Tell them what?” _Ugh._

“That you’re like me! I mean, they told me you turned yourself in. That you said you triggered on assignment and you don’t know when it happened.”

“It was inevitable,” she smiled.

\--

The box of cubicle items teetered in Karkat’s arms. He stood in the doorway that split the area he’d be sharing with his new partner. 

Dave knew he was there, he was just trying to postpone the inevitable. He finally turned to look at him and take him in. Just as grey and nubby as ever. Fit with the same scowl he knew he could kiss off him and oh god no not going there. He thought he was going to be fine, but his heart rate jumped as he looked at him. “Well, are you gonna come in or just stand there like an asshole?” 

Karkat rolled his eyes and stepped in, tossing his stuff on to the cleared desk. “Way to make a guy feel welcome.”

Dave pushed out from his desk and spun to look at him, his hands going to rest behind his head. He crossed his legs. Mentally, he knew his attempt to appear chill was falling flat but he wasn’t about to stop. “Listen, man. I’m just gonna avoid the giant elephant in the room of this situation. I’m gonna keep ignoring what happened. You’re gonna keep ignoring what happened. Let’s just try to do our job, okay?” He felt his skin prickling as he took in the sight of Karkat. It had been a long time since he’d really, really looked at him. 

“Listen, dickwad. I don’t know which giant elephant in this room you’re referring to because there are literally ten of them. But for the record, I don’t give a fuck. I don’t know who decided this gobsmacking shitshow of a partnership, but if I were you I’d go back in time and bitch slap them. I’m honestly wondering why you haven’t done that yet since I find you to be a pathetic specimen of apparently wowing amounts of power. I’m shaking in my grub leather boots.” 

Dave watched him for a few tense seconds. Yeah. He deserved this. He asked for this. This was his punishment. He could feel his stomach sinking but he kept his face blank. At least he and Karkat were on the same page with this pair up being bad shit. There were a thousand words to say that he suddenly couldn’t verbalize. 

“Alright….well um, I’m gonna get some coffee. I’ll see you in the assignments room later,” Dave hurled himself out of the chair and stepped the fuck out of there. He struggled to shove the encounter out of his mind while his pulse racked up beyond his control. He didn’t feel ready to handle the gravel-voiced shouting wonder back in his office. 

The only way to the coffee was through the bullpen. He stomped down the hallway and weakly attempted to calm his breathing. Despite being in his fit of avoidance, he knew someone was going to say something. Vriska whistled at him as he walked past her in the bustling room adjacent to his previous coffee machine. “Yo Striiiiiiiider! I heard you got Shouty.” She grinned at him with palpable amusement. 

Dave paused, sighed, and turned around to shuffle over to her. She was sitting on top of John’s desk with her legs crossed in an absolutely shameless display. Central is a steaming pile of incest. John walked around the chair with a handful of files and set them down on his desk. He bit into an apple in his other hand and without even looking up from what he was reading he held the apple out to Vriska, who leaned in and took a bite out of it. 

Dave shuddered reflexively. He wondered what John saw in her. 

“Hey man, I got a guy in my car, shit’s weird, I didn’t ask for it, but I feel like all you assholes are enjoying this.” He threw his arms up to his sides. This was just building a bigger hole. “Forget it. Aren’t you working with my bro now?” He’d finally caught up on his emails. 

Vriska smiled. “Yes. Sadly I’ll miss my cases with John, and it’s an odd mashup, but it’ll do. I’m excited to see him… work. Not everyone can be as much a hard hitter as me or John here,” she winked at him. 

“Uh huh…” Vriska always loved flaunting her power. It shocked him how she hadn’t been found out yet. John went to wrap an arm around her shoulder and Dave took his cue to leave. 

He continued on to the coffee machine. “Later, Serket. See you John. If you were looking for your balls, she shrunk and hid them, by the way. Just thought you should know.” 

He didn’t turn around to see his reaction, but Vriska’s shrieking laughter gave him everything he needed to know. 

\--

“Vantas and Strider, interspecies issues,” the Chief read aloud as he went through the assignment list. Dave wanted to bang his head on the desk. Not only did he have a new shitty partner, he was being drafted to Karkat’s desk now too. Goodbye cool Time cases, hello hate crimes and other mediating bullshit. What a goddamn waste. Whatever, he had to meet his weakling Blood of Knight in the middle somehow. If he kept his shit together long enough maybe they’d get promoted. 

“Maryam and Gordon, Egbert and Zahhak, theft.”

Dave laughed to himself. Of course John would get paired up with the sweaty one. Dave could only see the back of John’s head, but he was probably pouting. 

“Strider senior and Serket, faction management. Lalonde, you’re on transfer to Cherub issues. I want updates on the Trickster drug outbreak by the end of this week. I am tired as fuck of seeing this shit in the city.” He paused before continuing. 

“English and Ampora, Classpect misuse.”

Yuck, Dirk’s going to work himself up over that one. What kind of desk assignment was that for hope anyways? 

“Lennox and Gomez, missing persons. Bankart and Samuels, vice. Leijon and Parker, homicide. Pyrope, per usual, you’re on your own.” That battle was fought and lost long ago. 

He set the files down on his podium. “As you all know, there’s been quite a bit of department shuffling about. Some of you have new partner assignments. If you have any complaints, you are welcome to kiss my ass. As always, any dispatches for Felt and Midnight Crew reports mean complete compliance. Whatever you are doing, you are to leave it and head to the designated location if directed. Off the record, this goes especially true for our heavy hitters, you know who you are. Megido senior has been re-assigned to local Time crimes and she is thankful in advance. Harley is her partner, Megido junior will be assisting as well. If any of you actually read your emails you would know this already.” 

The room filled with people murmuring to each other about Aradia’s Godtier reveal. Dave felt his heart twinge. One second she was doing whatever she wanted, now she was the government’s new plaything. Just like Jade. Just like Jane. 

He cleared his throat. “The Midnight Crew has apparently made south downtown and coastal area their base. Use caution on any cases around or near the coastline. Their presence means trouble and a lot of Time and Space anomalies as they continue feuding with the Felt and attempting to establish domination over the city. Now get on with it, keep the fabric of reality together as best you can, and for the love of god don’t die.”

Without looking at Karkat, Dave stepped up to grab their assigned files. Didn’t want to give the gossip mill any more fodder, at least while he could help it. He wasn’t sure he could trust what might come out of his mouth near him. He sped out of the room. 

He flipped through the top one and read it down as he made his way back to his office, head bowed as he immersed himself in the topic. Interspecies ‘fight clubs’ were immensely popular underground. Unfortunately according to Earth law, also completely illegal. Such things were lost during the integration of troll and human society. 

However, this warehouse was on the third night of such illicit activities. Inside were some photos of mangled and bloodied trolls and humans in a metal cage ring. 

Karkat made his way back. Dave glanced at him and looked back down at his desk. Karkat’s shoulders were pulled down tightly, turning his body into a ball of tension. “Anything interesting?” he sounded almost casual despite his appearance. Dave wasn’t sure if Karkat was anxious or if he was just reading too much into him.

“Looks like Chief wants us to investigate a blue blood brawl ring. I almost feel kind of bad about it,” Dave answered. “Poor bastards just trying to keep their culture alive. But then people started dying, and gambling, and you know, shit’s illegal.” 

”What, is all the bullshit inundating through vice getting shoved off on us?” Karkat questioned, avoiding the subtle jab at troll culture. 

Dave contemplated. Karkat was technically right, this wasn’t what their new line of assignment was about. “All our Vice people are working the cherub cases. Shit’s so out of control apparently six people have jumped off buildings hopped on Trickster dust in the last two weeks. I guess that leaves us over in interspecies.” He was actually thankful not to be working any of the frustrating drug cases. Requisitions was a constantly revolving door of that recently. 

He spun around to face Karkat just in time to see him rolling his eyes. “I already knew all that dipshit.” 

Oh, god, he could only look at his face for a second before averting his gaze. His skin was getting hot again and he mentally shoved off the sensation, writing it off as irritation. Be civil be civil you like this job don’t you? It registered in his brain that he thought Karkat was attractive and his stomach dropped a little further. It’s okay, he told himself, to dislike someone but think they’re attractive. Hate someone, not just dislike, he then reminded himself. 

He floundered for words and immediately regretted what came out. “Er… You wanna scope it out?” Wait, please say no. Leave it to Karkat to actually want to do fieldwork on a day when Dave least felt like doing it. 

“Please, save me from the neverending pile of bullshit growing over there.” 

Fuck.


	2. Chapter 2

Dave sat back in his chair, anxiously rubbing his hands down his pant legs as the display lit up. He put the car in gear and started to exit the complex. Karkat was just sitting and the silence was unbearable. In times like that there was only one option: run his mouth. “Listen, dude. Shit’s obvious, but I’m not trying to be your friend.” He could feel Karkat’s eyes on him and he tried to ignore the sudden jump his stomach made. “I just need to know that if shit goes off, you got my back.” 

“The irony of that is that I don’t think I could ask the same of you,” Karkat replied icily. 

A red light gave Dave a moment to really look at him. It still wasn’t easy and he had to swallow before opening his mouth again. “I think I am physically incapable of letting anything happen to you, because I’m a Knight, like you. I’m truly insulted.” 

Dave momentarily contemplated what he was saying. Did he like Karkat? No. Did the thought of Karkat getting injured physically pain him? Yes, but that was just a Knight thing, and he was definitely not going to get his boxers in a wad over it. 

“Wow, I am suddenly so comforted. Put me in the line of fire right now Chief, Strider has my back.”

Dave smirked. “Anyway, I’m sure we can behave like adults and I can trust I won’t end up like your last partner.” 

“What the–? Fuck you Strider, you don’t know jack shit about that case. And for the record, you’re the only one around here acting like a big wiggler about this,” Karkat sunk into his seat, arms crossed. Dave thought he was done talking and then- “This is why nobody actually likes you,” Karkat snapped at him. “When you wonder why you got me as a partner you can remember that.”

Dave set his face and turned up the radio. It really was an asshole move, bringing up a classified case that had ended so badly. One that had ended with a bullet through Nitram’s brainstem, an area that was insanely difficult for healers to fix. He remembered Jane telling him that repairing nerves was like herding cats. Tavros lived, but he lost the ability to walk and was honorably discharged from his work as a detective. 

Everyone had made fun of Karkat and Tavros’s partnership as the Interspecies heads in the first place. They were two low Tier ranks, but somehow still very effective, raking in tons of successful cases with minimal use of powers. The Interspecies desk didn’t really require abilities. Dave silently laughed to himself and wondered if it was Karkat’s winning personality that did it. He knew most of their cases didn’t involve powers, unlike his cases with Aradia where they were specifically given all the Time cases they could mentally handle. 

The rest of their drive was quiet, but Dave still felt warmth radiating through his body that came from the awareness of Karkat near him. 

-

Dave looked up at the large iron doors set into the warehouse’s side, noting BRAWLSOLEUM spelled across the top in imposing, messy letters. 

He pushed open the door and Karkat followed.

In the middle of a warehouse was a completely closed over cage fighting ring. It looked like areas have been patched over where they’d been damaged somehow. The floor didn’t seem like it had been cleaned recently, and looked sticky with several different colors. 

Two signs hung on opposite ends of the cage, reading ‘TROLLS’ and ‘HUMANS.’  
Dave whistled. This was not what he’d been expecting. Pitting trolls against humans in battle was considered a huge taboo. 

He looked back into the warehouse. Up in the awnings he noticed lights on in the overhead offices. He grabbed Karkat and hasted out of the area where sunlight fell through the roof. 

Karkat looked at him in surprise, but his face dawned understanding when Dave pointed up to the lit office. 

Dave began to make out voices at they escalated the metal grate stairs. Karkat yanked Dave back as a Midnight Crew minion rounded the corner, and Dave mentally appreciated his foresight. Holstered at his side was his gun, he reached to remove it but Karkat shook his head and pointed down at a brick on the floor by his feet. Dave shrugged and picked it up. As the underling passed by he smashed the brick onto the man’s head. Once, twice, down. They both peered at the incapacitated man as realization set in. 

“Shit shit shit. How could I have been so stupid? This is Midnight Crew territory. What’s this got to do with blueblood brawling?” Karkat spat lowly. Dave shrugged. Any of these places could serve as bases. 

They continued on through the hallway to see two more armed members posted around a door Their conversation came to an abrupt end as they laid eyes on the two detectives. 

Dave and Karkat stepped back, neither one prepared for the spray of bullets that peppered the spot they’d just abandoned.  
Dave glanced back at Karkat, who had readied his handgun. 

This would have been so much easier with Aradia but nooooo, now I have to do this the hard way. Dave felt an iron ball sitting in his stomach as he mulled over that fact. Ironically, if Karkat was a Tier 1, Dave was about the same due to his inability to make stable loops, or to do anything at all. 

A short respite followed when the two minions reloaded. Idiots.

It was easy enough to lean around the edge of the door and kneecap them with Karkat’s help. 

Despite the recent push for the force to use non lethal force, Dave couldn’t imagine the Chief having issues with two bloodied Crew cronies. Karkat fully stepped into the hallway and pulled his sickles out from where they were strapped under his jacket. With practiced ease he lobbed them at the Crew members, each one lodging into its mark. They collapsed backwards onto the floor. 

“Knife, meet gunfight,” Dave cracked, and didn’t even need to look at Karkat to know he was rolling his eyes as he plucked the sickles out of the gasping bodies. Dave realized he was impressed and then shoved the thought away. 

They continued down to the door at the end of the hallway. 

Karkat swung the door open and a loud POP greeted them. Whoever had been occupying the room’s space disappeared, along with everything else in it.

He cursed and threw down a sickle.

“Yeah, well we weren’t exactly subtle,” Dave commented, surveying the completely empty room.

“Space?” Karkat questioned.

Dave groaned. Aspect guessing was never his forte. “Let’s head back to the station, take a return trip when it gets busy? This is a dead end.”

“Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here.” Dave was internally thankful. He didn’t want to stick around any longer than he needed to. 

They made their way back down. “Any thoughts?” Karkat asked. 

“On?” Oh, he had a lot of thoughts. 

“Those were Crew. Did you miss the black-”

“No, of course not. Do you think they might be running this? It seems a little below their paygrade.”

“It could be a group that has a truce with the Crew,” Karkat speculated. “Whoever it was, they went to great lengths to make sure we didn’t discover them… Run it by your brother later?” 

“Consider it done.”

Dave considered it a victory when they got back to central without much more talking. 

-

When Dave got home, Dirk tossed him a game controller. Dave plopped down next to him, sinking into the broad couch seat. “Hey man. Believe it or not I actually have some stuff to ask you.”

Dirk nodded, a silent green light. 

“You know that series of warehouses on the outer edge of the peninsula?”

“I spent the day getting oriented with that area. Why?”

“Which territory is that right now?”

“Does anybody check their emails?” Dave withheld a snort. “That whole area of the coast belongs to the Crew. The Felt currently runs the northern area of the city,” Dirk elaborated for him. “There are some theories on the area being split up between members but nothing confirmed. According to our intel, however, Droog has a hold over there.” Dave started to remember. The slow but sure territory takeover. Droog offered safety from his activities as long as you submitted to his local rule. Since law enforcement had to keep themselves scarce over there, he wondered what the punishment was. 

“We were investigating reports of one of those blue blood gladiator rings running out of there, but that doesn’t fit with the Crew’s paradigm.”

“You’d be surprised what them and their kind get up to,” Dirk sighed. “Reports of some weird shit too. Like--”

The front door clicked, signaling a sibling’s return. Roxy stripped off her heels in the foyer and tossed them into a corner. They banged the wall before falling. “My godddd, you guys would not believe the shit I got up into tonight downtown,” she yelled out into the house. Dave smiled. Roxy was never one for quiet entrances. 

“Don’t lie Rox, you just just wanted to go drink,” Dirk yelled back at her and she laughed, high pitched and tittering. Definitely tipsy. Dave silently begrudged how carefree she seemed. 

Roxy strolled into the lit hallway sporting a tight, pink number. It was a wonder that she was always able to hide her handguns in her skimpy outfits. Dave frowned and tried to edge his mind away from that particular train of thought. 

“No no no seriously guys,” She waved her hand around. “Did you know there’s rumors of a Ring in the city?”

“Alright, that’s bullshit. Nobody’s seen a Ring in sixty years. They’re practically a thing of legend.” Dave didn’t look up from the game. It wasn’t exactly true. He’d seen documents on the Rings. He knew they were out there. It was just comforting to think they didn’t exist because the thought of people using them was downright terrifying. 

“Maybe it’ll show up if you imagine it hard enough,” Rose poked at her from the table while not looking up from her work. Dave couldn’t help but smile at that. Roxy and Rose liked to rib each other on the extent of their abilities as a hobby. 

“Love you toooo sis,” she cooed before stumbling into the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of water. “I would just swoon to even hold the Ring of Void. Anyways, y’all better check this shit out.” She reached into her dress where her chest appeared padded up. Dave had unsuccessfully avoided notificing she looked bustier than usual. 

His observation was warranted however, as she yanked out two packages full of white powder and dumped them on the kitchen island. Dirk jumped up from the couch. Rose only side-eyed her from the table. 

“Rox, holy shit you cannot bring that stuff home.”

She waved a hand thoughtlessly and continued to drink her water. “Oh come onnn, I wasn’t gonna go back to the station nursing this lovely buzz. I’ll bring it in tomorrow.” Dave noticed his mouth had fallen open at some point and shut it. 

Dirk cursed something about crazy women and fell back into the couch. Dave was right there with him, he did not like the thought of eating food off the same surface Trickster dust had been on. 

Roxy turned to Rose. “Maybe your book will write itself if you think about it hard enough, Rosie posie. Can’t you like, see the finished products anyways?”

“If it worked that way, life would be much simpler.” 

The game played on in the background as the siblings fell into silence. Inevitably, Roxy was the one that broke it. 

“If I’m being honest I hate this case. Trickster dust acts as some kind of virus?” Roxy said, setting her water down on the table. “Once it’s in your system you can spread it to other people through bodily fluids. There’s some kind of enzymatic reaction, according to Jane. Calliope is the best though, I’m soooo lucky! She can pass a forgery like nobody’s business.” She grinned at whatever memory she was recalling. 

“Roxy, we all know you just want to gush about the cute cherub you’ve been working with,” Dirk teased her. 

“Mmmm yes she’s adorable! Buuuuut enough about me. How’s the Serk, Dirk?” 

“I’m pretty sure every time John and her are both missing from the desk they’re banging in a closet somewhere,” Dirk deadpanned. 

“Oh my god please, I so did not need to know that,” Dave said. “Like, I already knew that was a thing, but I still don’t like hearing it, holy shit.” He really didn’t need to be reminded of the strange relationship between Vriska and John that had budded when they used to be partners. He opened his mouth to ask Roxy about her partner to keep the conversation from drifting to him, but Rose was already speaking. 

“And… Dave?” Rose closed her book and rested her head on her hand to listen. She looked over at him, eyes half lidded. 

Dave knew what she was implying and ignored it. “Uh, what?” 

“How’s our dear, shouty grey boy?” He didn’t miss Roxy and Dirk’s faces snapping toward him. He wanted to put his head in his hands and ignore them all. 

“Nothing to talk about,” he said with forced casualness. The following silence was too much for him so he sighed and paused the game to look back at her. “Listen, I liked Aradia because there was never any bullshit with her. I didn’t have to worry about her knowing what I could do. I mean, she would get all Seer-like sometimes and ominous and it was really annoying- no offense Rose- but she was reliable. I sure as shit miss how not loud and grating her voice was--”

“Dave, why do you hate Karkat so much?” Rose interrupted, innocent as ever. The following silence was so sharp it could cut glass. 

“Uh, I don’t know, maybe he’s a vapid windbag, maybe it’s the giant chip in his shoulder, oh and, the fact that I can’t remember last year’s holiday party even though I passed out naked next to the guy and now I can’t look him in the eye. And now he’s my partner, except his last partner was ‘honorably discharged’ and is apparently paralyzed, but oh, no, that case is classified, and I maybe should be scared for my life.” 

Roxy had a hand over her mouth. He’d made it pretty clear to his siblings he didn’t appreciate them bringing up the infamous Stri-Londe holiday party of last year. He couldn’t control the gossip outside of his home, however, so everyone at central was watching his partnership with Karkat unfold with great interest. He was getting warm just thinking about that night. 

“We’ve been over this, brother mine.” Rose’s eye roll was obvious in her speech. “Maybe you’re a little slight more enamored by him than you would like to admit?” 

Dave’s head whipped to her. “Okay, seriously Rose, shut the fuck up.” He snatched the controller off the coffee table in front of him and got back to his game. 

Rose’s question is totally not the reason Dave is unable to sleep that night. 

Some people feel shame after a heavy night of drinking. Some people do stupid, unexplainable things. Like him. That one night had haunted him for months. He laid there in bed, trying and failing to ignore the few snippets he could even recall. He curled on to one side and squeezed his eyes shut as he remembered pushing him against a wall and kissing him. He reveled in the memory for only a second before he was filled with revulsion. It was same guy he was sitting opposite from in his cubicle now. 

Karkat Vantas. 

\--

The warehouse was packed with a mix of humans and low caste trolls. Humans covered in tattoos and piercings rattled the sides of the cage. Laughing and jostling trolls threw money down on the respective sides of the fight. Dave had garbed himself in his ratty leather jacket in an attempt to fit in with the territory’s inhabitants. 

Dave and Karkat surveyed the crush of trolls and humans. A rustblood female and slightly taller dark haired human girl fought. They both appeared terrified, the human girl’s face contorted in pain.

The rustblood female closed her eyes and let out a cry as she lunged forward to smash her fist into the human’s face.

_Rustbloods aren’t violent,_ Dave remembered Aradia telling him once. 

The human girl didn’t stand a chance. She staggered to the edge of the cage, falling to a knee and bracing herself as blood poured out of her nose. 

The troll stepped backwards and put her hands to her head, shaking it violently. Her hands covered her eyes and she gripped her hair. Even though he was human Dave could feel the psychic energy pulsating through the air. 

Karkat nudged him and gestured back over to the stairs in the back. Dave fell into step behind him and pushed through the crowd. They made their way back up into the hallway, almost to the door, and-- 

Something hard poked him in the back. Dave felt the subconscious urge to throw himself into the past, but no, Karkat would see. And that was not an conversation he felt like having even if they were to escape this by the skin of their teeth. He needed to get through this without his aspect.  
The door opened and the two of them were shoved at gunpoint into the room.

A surly Diamonds Droog stood before them. 

“Hm. Not what I was expecting, but then again, Skaia PD never disappoints, does it?” His laugh was scratchy with a hundred cigars and he set his hands down. “You should have been a little bit smarter about staging your return. Not that I didn’t expect the battalion to show up, but as I’m sure you’ve figured out, I have my escape routes.” 

“You know what your problem is?” Karkat snapped. “All of you are always fucking monologuing. Can I help you out and read your Miranda rights already?”

Droog gave a tight-lipped and toyed with a ring on one of his hands. 

“I do indeed digress… Now, let’s see. The last round is ending, isn’t it? I wonder what to do with you two! Somehow I feel you must repay the loss of my dear members the other night.” He put his hand on his chin and pretended to consider. He snapped his fingers and pointed at the men at the sides of the room. “Throw them in.”

Dave and Karkat were yanked backward into the hall. Dave groaned, it was so obvious. “Did you notice what was behind him?” The piles and piles of white. 

“Of course I fucking did! And it’s not the fucking time, Strider,” Karkat snapped back as they were shoved out into the ring. 

Dave was confused at first but as he and Karkat were yanked through the metal gate into the fighting ring something began to make sense. The corner of the ring looked slick with dark red blood. Usually, this would have been the time with Aradia to move backwards or forwards or to any time that wasn’t Right Now. Except that without Aradia the only thing Dave could produce were shoddy copies that inevitably died. They were time loops, but somehow wrong. They were Daves from invalid timelines and universes and they did not belong. If he kept hitting that button the only thing he would end up with was a bunch of dead bodies. He had other abilities though, so he dug down and tried to freeze the gate before it closed. It swung shut, unfettered by his failing abilities. The shame of his uselessness brewed in his stomach. 

“Vantas, what the fuck is going on?” He said but it felt meaningless. Already, he knew. 

Strife. 

He did not want to do this right now. What exactly did they expect was gonna happen? He stood and glanced back at the gate they’d just come through, expecting some kind of brute to be thrown in too. He looked over at Karkat, who had circled around to the other side of the cage. 

A low tingle began to build at the base of where his neck met his skull. It curved up the back of his head and centered on top, like someone cracked an egg on his hair, except that it was burning. His heart rate accelerated and the sensation flew out into his extremities. 

He was mad. Really, really fucking mad. 

And from the looks of it, Karkat was too.

From a seat in the back of his brain he watched the fuzzy television of reality. He was roughly aware that his actions were not his own and that he was not entirely in control. 

Karkat had taken out his sickles and was growling at him. It only served to strike up the fire within him telling him to fight.

Thoughtlessly he called a sword out of his specibus. Hurt him, something that wasn’t entirely him breathed in his brain. He drew back up into a fighting stance.

Karkat took the moment to run at him and Dave caught the striking sickles in a diagonal guard. He circled the sword around, sickles still caught around the hilt and Karkat staggered back.  
The blows continued. Karkat nicked his arm. The roar of the crowd was a distant sound around him.  
After Karkat landed the blow something flickered through his face. Karkat threw himself at the metal ring and dropped the sickles. They clattered into an area of tacky human blood. Dave hesitated but his body continued to roll with hazy rage. 

Karkat shouted. He appeared to be fighting his hands, trying to stop himself from reaching back down to the sickles. 

Mid squat he stopped and his head snapped over to Dave. He looked between Dave and his sickles and decidedly left the sickles. Turning to Dave he squared himself. 

Dave kept stepping towards him, sword at the ready. 

“Strider. Strider. Strider!” he put his hands up, as if he was calming a rabid bear. “They’re in your head! You need to fight them. Climb out!” He urged.

Dave lunged to strike at him but Karkat rolled out of the way. He returned to a standing position but slightly crouched as if in surrender, his palms still out toward Dave. 

Dave ditched the sword. He brought his fists up. 

He started to feel a loss of coordination as his back foot dragged a step. His hand shot out, aiming for Karkat’s face, but he completely missed and swung around himself. 

“Strider-- dammit-- Dave Strider wake the fuck up!”

Slowly, as if turning up a dimmer, Dave felt the blackness surrounding his awareness slink away and he resettled into his body. 

The rage dissipated. 

“Vantas-- how…”

They turned their heads to the grand metal doors as they were pushed open and a loudspeaker blasted through. “Skaia PD.”

The crowd began to disperse in a panic. Dave and Karkat glanced at each other inside the metal ring. 

“Droog is… probably gone?” Dave sighed weakly. 

He could make out Rose behind the line of SPD officers in riot gear, her arms crossed and her body a rigid line. Happy was not how he would describe her. 

“Don’t even fucking say it,” he murmurs to her in a low tone as they’re being helped out of the cage. 

She rolls her eyes but walks with them out. Karkat’s face looks more pinched than usual and he scowls deeply when he gets the ball. 

Angry Chief on the phone late in the night was never a good thing.

“I send you two on your first fucking assignment, and you not only lose Diamonds fucking Droog, you claim to get mind controlled and then beat the shit out of each other? Care to explain?”

“Listen- I swear the fuck to you, we thought we were dealing with blue bloods!”

“What do you mean, you thought you were?” Chief questioned.

“You’re the one that sent us into MC territory in the first place! Blue bloods or not, I want to know who fucked up and sent us into Droog’s goddamn lair! No offense Chief, but you are too human for this, when someone gets controlled by a blue blood they don’t have awareness of what’s happening. Dave and I were definitely…. Aware. It was kind of like… wait. Dave, go away.” Karkat brushed him away from the conversation. 

Dave exhales and holds his hands out. “Uh, why?”

“Classified shit, go away.”

Dave walked away and left the trainwreck explanation to Karkat, hoping for something of an explanation eventually. The majority of these cases came from the Godtier desk, but… he looked up and lost his train of thought as he met the eyes of a livid sister. 

Rose was still glaring at him with nearly the same expression she’d had earlier. Her arms were crossed just as tightly. 

“Don’t even say what you’re going to say--”

“You leave it to me to save your sorry ass and call it in because you are too much of a pathetic coward to use your god given abilities and save yourself.”

Dave winced. “Can you keep it down a little bit, my god. You already know what would happen.” 

She was not so easily convinced. It was a weak lie and she already knew he had other tricks up his sleeve. Or so she thought, he mused bitterly. His other abilities had failed him too. “Roxy is going to flay you.”

Guilt pooled in his stomach. She didn’t stop. 

“You know what happens when a top dispatch officer calls in at this time of night? Do you Dave? Really?” she kept going. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw her this angry. “You know you can still use your powers, but turn it down a little. Look, Dave froze time and he’s a Knight of Time. Bring the cameras everyone, we have a story!” 

“Jesus, what is it with you Lalonde women lecturing me all day, my god,” he muttered under his breath. He didn’t feel like explaining what happened. 

Rose inhaled sharply. Her hand whipped out and she honest to god slapped him. Several SPD officers still outfitted in riot gear turned to look as the sound caught their attention.  
“Rewind that, you bastard,” she said frigidly at him, and turned on her heel to walk away. 

Dave stood there until the crews began to disperse. He let the sting settle into his cheek as he mulled over her words, feeling irrationally mad. Didn’t she know how far the instability ran? What game was she playing here? He made a mental note to chalk it up to Seer bullshit. Karkat was finally walking back to him. 

Dave didn’t hesitate, he turned towards their car and Karkat followed in step.

He blew out one long breath before speaking. “Something weird is going on,” he said.

“Yeah, well no shit. Money laundering, drug running, and then there was whatever the fuck they had us do in that ring… ” Karkat trailed off, lips becoming a thin line. “I think we found the answer to how Droog’s been keeping a lid on this territory.”

You woke me up. Dave wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, he said, “They saw us coming. The other day was a trap to get us to return. How do you think we’ll ever get the drop on them like this? It’s been like this for months now.”

Karkat shook his head. “If we keep letting them on like this they’ll have closed on the city center by the end of the year. It’s fine now, most of it’s centered in bad areas but everyday it gets worse.” He sighed and stopped in the alleyway. Dave could tell he was internally grappling with something, but he wasn’t about to egg him on for it. 

“What exactly are your abilities?” Karkat looked kind of shameful. 

“Er… it’s… complicated.” The topic of this conversation was swiftly moving into social and professional taboo, but mostly shit Dave didn’t feel like revealing. 

“I don’t give a shit. Listen, I get it, you think I’m completely useless, and you know what? Fucking fine! Tavros and I didn’t need powers to fuck shit up. But you don’t have an excuse, Strider, everyone and their mother knows the kind of time loop shenanigans you and Aradia used to get up to. Weren’t you all rested up and ready to go this weekend? You couldn’t have even one go at it? As far as I know, that amount of stuff you contributed tonight was jack shit, Level 5,” Karkat snapped at him. Dave couldn’t make himself look at Karkat. He was completely right and the shame of it all stewed. It was a bit startling to hear Karkat call out his supposed Tier level, erroneous or not. 

He knows he’s going to regret this, he knows and he can’t stop himself. But it’s the only way he’s gonna stay out of this talk. 

“Yeah well I’m not the unranked one in this situation so I’m not one to talk,” Dave snapped. It was an unprofessional low blow to call out Karkat’s lack of abilities like that. Infamous Knight of Blood or not, he wasn’t even a level 1. It didn’t mean anything. Nobody knew what a Knight of Blood could do. Dave had an inkling of suspicion that not even Karkat himself knew. 

Karkat stepped back as if physically recoiling. “You little shit… I should have just taken that time in the ring to stab your sorry ass.”

Dave deflated. “Let’s just go back to the station,” he mumbled. He couldn't help but notice that Karkat, usually scowling, not just appeared dejected in the dark of their car as they ride back. 

He couldn’t stop himself. He stole looks out of the side of his eye at Karkat, and felt a stab of guilt every time he registered his expression. 

Dave slept for a long time that Sunday. He got out of bed to eat, shower, and hug Rose. 

“Karkat saved your life,” she told him in a hushed tone as the sun set over the trees in their backyard. 

_I know,_ he thought. _I know._ He wanted to tell her about his abilities running out of control but he couldn’t find the words.


	3. Chapter 3

The next Monday when Dave got in, both he and Karkat were paged into an immediate meeting, along with several other of their peers. The Chief looked troubled, but Dave could never tell if that’s how he always looked. He hated these co-op missions. Before, it always meant risking his power-level cover, but at least among his similarly “God-tiered” friends he could relax a bit. 

“Unfortunately, some of you are unable to be trusted on your own, and you are all now assigned to this case and you will work together.” He handed files out to everyone. The displeasure in the room was audible. 

“Shut up. There’s been an ongoing string of disappearances occurring out of the Omnius hotel. We have reason to believe the owner, Lawrence Shields, is behind the disappearances. We suspect his alternate identity is actually Quarters. I’ve curated this group to infiltrate. However, our main concern is to seek out the higher profile missing persons. So far we’ve lost an actress, several Senators, a few journalists, and then officers from Skaia PD. It also seems turning a blind eye to prostitution in the area. But we can’t get any concrete proof.” He put his fedora back on. “I will leave you now to discuss.”

As the door shut, Vriska stood up. “It’s obvious. We’re dealing with a very high level Space tier here.”

Karkat was shaking his head. “It could be Void, if they are actually disappearing. Void must be involved if our Light people can’t get good intel. Our readings on the place have been absolute shit. The walls are literally impenetrable. Also, the Chief made sure to include both Void and Space on this team for a reason.”

“Ughhhhh. And where did you get that from?”

“Because I literally just read the file you dumb spiderbitch,” Karkat snapped at her and Vriska glowered back. Dave couldn’t help but crack a smile. He checked himself, suddenly frowning. Was that… appreciation for Karkat? It hadn’t been the first time recently but whoa it’d been a long time since he felt that. 

“Whoa whoa whoa okay guys let’s take it back a step,” John said, “Let’s take a page out of Ocean’s Eleven-” 

“Oh my god, NO, John, not again!” Karkat said, waving a hand in front of his face.

“Listen to what he has to say!” Vriska went off to protect her boyfriend. 

“You two are literally disgusting. Vriska, get your head out of your nook for one fucking second. John, dude, this place is not a casino, it’s just a hotel. If we’re gonna be hanging out there we need a damn good excuse.”

“Shields is having a fundraiser in a month for one of the current mayoral candidates,” Kanaya said, not even looking up as she flipped through her file. She shut it in front of her. “That should be a good opportunity to infiltrate.” 

“Yeah, well whatever the fuck we do, I think Karkat should be a waiter,” Dave snarked, mostly intending it as an aside. 

Karkat glared at him. “Uh, hell no you dumbshit.”

“Quiet!! You’re both going to be on recon, I’ve already decided, you idiots, so guess what, you both get waiter status on this party,” She stepped up to go mark up the board. “Both of you will be our ears on the floor and will keep us updated about the location of Shields during the fundraiser.”

“It’s possible there’s a link to the missing Senator,” Kanaya cut in. 

Vriska nodded vigorously. “Equius will infiltrate the security rooms. He will send any security footage to Sollux, who will be on hand here to process. I imagine where footage is missing is where our missing people are, no? Who am I missing- Kanaya, myself, John and Dirk will be guests. If we get into a bind, Gordon will use Mind to help us determine how to proceed.”

Dave glanced over at him. What was he again? Heir. Oh, of course. Something something, multiple realities. 

He didn’t pay attention to much of the following discourse, and he was thankful when Vriska finally dismissed them to prepare. “We will reconvene in three weeks.” 

In the meantime, they got back to their desks to find they were placed on a basic protection job. Chief must have been really pissed if they were being handed this bottom of the barrel nonsense. That’s how they found themselves tense at a bar overlooking a dining area where their charge was enjoying dinner. 

Dave had to admit he liked it when trolls dressed in human clothes. Some preferred not to, like Vriska. But it was always refreshing to see them dressed in collared button up shirts or dresses, ditching their signs and colors. Karkat’s chitinous skin reflected the dim gold light of the glass bar display, and Dave had to admit when he looked at the troll his mind breathed at him something that sounded like _handsome_. 

“Long time no talk, Strider,” Karkat said, breaking the long silence. 

Dave turned his head to regard him but his body remained stiffly faced toward his drink. That didn’t stop his heart rate from adding more beats per minute. “Nope.” 

Karkat sighed. “Why are you so determined to make this as painful as possible?”

Dave lifted his drink to his mouth. “It’s only awkward if you make it awkward,” he muttered and took a long sip. He shifted the glass back and shook it around before turning his head check on the government envoy. 

“I didn’t even say it was awkward, that’s all on you Strider.” 

“Jesus, you’re sounding like my sister. That’s not a compliment, she’s invasive as fuck.”

“I can’t help that you’re projecting.”

“You are legitimately third wheeling her and Kanaya way too much. Just declare yourselves a tricycle already and put us out of our misery.”

“Maybe your own sister would invite you if you weren’t such a tightass.”

“Maybe I just value my privacy.”

“The difference between ‘valuing privacy’ and ‘having an asshole so tight people wonder how you defecate’ is extremely broad.”

“Okay, 1. Ew. 2. Uh, no.” After a few moments he couldn’t handle it anymore. “Fine. What happened to your old partner?” Dave asked. The urge to shove his hand down his throat and pull out his tongue was overwhelming. 

Karkat peered over at him curiously. “Oh, so now you want to talk civil so you can pry your own grubby meathooks into my past, huh? You already know that stuff is classified, asshat.” 

“Can you blame a guy for being curious?”

“I could ask the same. You and Aradia were always so secretive about your missions, I’d bet half of your reports were forged like Duece’s entire checkbook. I couldn’t even count amount of times I’ve asked Aradia only to receive her trademarked smile. Did that shit ever creep you out?” 

“Marginally. I think I got used to it after a while.” Dave had turned to actually look at Karkat despite the warmth that was prickling his entire neck. Karkat looked relaxed, with maybe a hint of a smile. The top few buttons of his collared shirt were undone, leaving an inviting window to the smooth stretch of collarbone across his chest. Dave blinked twice as he realized he just had that thought and glanced away. 

“Listen whatever happened- happened. But that doesn’t mean you need to be a massive dick about everything,” Karkat said and leaned back over his barstool, bringing his own drink down to rest on his leg. “I’m completely aware of how much you apparently can’t stand me but that doesn’t change the fact that we will be spending a lot of time together. I’d prefer to spend that time with someone actually capable of some facsimile of conversation.”

“Yeah, uh, no. No conversation here.” Dave replied as he signaled the bartender over. “I’m not interesting in hearing your grating voice as much as you’re interested in hearing mine.” 

“The more you say things like that the less I believe them, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to get to know my partner.” 

Dave snapped his head to him and pressed his lips into a fine line, considering. He tried to deny the heat he felt, the implication behind those words. After all this, Karkat still wanted to get to know him. Though he always had heard Karkat had a way with words. Karkat always would say the right thing, even if said at a shout. And so he broke. “What did you want to know,” he said, it coming out more as a sentence than a question. 

“Why did you end up here?” The question was innocent enough.

The corners of Dave’s lips pulled down as he recalled. “I mean like anyone else with a decent Tier you can’t exactly pick what you want to do at a certain point. And according to this shit class-pect I was born with I’m a fighter.”

Karkat nodded. Neither spoke for a few. “Erm, what about you?” Dave asked inelegantly. 

“What, don’t force yourself man,” Karkat gazed down at the counter. 

“No, seriously. Tell me.” 

“Huh. Well, I mean I guess in a similar way when I expatriated the government here was falling over themselves to have another one of the historical Vantas line. Except I hated all that bureaucratic bullshit. I guess I just wanted to help people but I wasn’t sure how. I had some friends who joined up, it all just kind of fell together. After academy I got promoted.” Karkat frowned as he recounts, and his eyes seemed far away. “Yeah. And everyone expects literal miracles out of me but surprise, I don’t have any. There’s two things I’m good at. Yelling, and then more yelling.”

Dave actually laughed at that. “It’s no secret you have the largest troll informant network of anyone on the force though.” 

Karkat actually rolled his eyes. “Because when people know who I am they want to help me. I didn’t build that on my own, everything I do here is just riding the coattails of my ancestor and everything he built. Anyways. Classpects man, why do we even have them.” 

“Who fucking knows. They just fuck up people’s lives. Rage aspects are bound for drug problems. Doom players go on murderous rampages. Most people can’t even use them anyways. I mean like, no offense-” 

“None taken.”

Dave goes silent for a few before speaking again. “My friend Jane is a Life God Tier and then some. She’s not the same person she used to be. Her life is fixing people. She’s an international sensation, one of kind. But my friend John, her brother, he regrets the world getting ahold of her. I think the Chief does too. I think of Aradia and I wonder what it’s like for her now. Time is such a fucked up aspect I don’t even want to get started on it. Does it wear her down every day like it does me? I think she loved it and I never understood it.”

Dave realizes too late into his monologue that Karkat is staring at him. He clears his throat and squirms in his seat. A fresh drink has just been placed in front of Dave when Karkat stuck a hand out in front of him. “Something is up,” Karkat said, scanning the room. 

Dave was bewildered and looked at him with doubt. “Do you have a tranq?”

“Uh, duh,” Dave said and subconsciously palmed at it under his jacket. 

“Don’t look now- _I said don’t fucking look_ \- but the waiter’s changed,” Karkat spoke and nodded in their direction. Dave suppressed the urge to groan, this one was supposed to be easy. 

“How do you know it isn’t just a shift change?”

“I just- I just _know_ okay? Give me the gun.” Karkat said it with such conviction it almost startled Dave but he hands him the gun anyways. Karkat pulls out his phone and pings the envoy to take their leave. 

“I need you to distract the bar while I get this guy outside,” Karkat said. Dave can’t help himself, he loves this part and he can’t stop the grin on his face. 

“Anything goes?”

“Oh god. Fucking- fucking Fine. Don’t get arrested yourself,” Karkat said and slipped out of the bar chair to float conspicuously on the edge of the room. Dave took a moment to further observe the large glass display of wine and liquor bottles covering the opposite wall. He grabbed his fresh drink, slugged it back, and reached around to grab a bottle from behind the bar. 

He jumped out of his chair and went to the edge of the room, took a moment to appreciate the color of the rose bottles and with a demented laughed he slammed the bottle into the glass display. The section of bottles crashed down, splashing him but it was so satisfying. In that moment everyone’s eyes were on him and he saw the bartender running around the bar. Dave grabbed another unbroken bottle off the shelf and used it to smash another section of the wall display while holding out the broken glass of the other bottle towards the room. The bartender was yelling at him but Dave was too focused on cracking the display. 

Karkat had at least successfully tranquilized the rogue waiter and was dragging him towards the kitchen serviceway, avoiding the eyes of onlookers due to Dave’s incredibly ridiculous distraction. He made sure to crash two more of the display sections while swinging the broken glass in his other hand with reckless abandon. The bartender was standing in the universal position of surrender and face palming. He noticed the host calling the police. Whoops another bystander was recording, shit. 

He dropped both bottles and took off through the doorway, making a point to knock the host platform on it’s side. He could hear more yelling but wasn’t willing to wait up. It looked like the envoy had already made their way out when the destruction starting happening, but he buzzed his link to make sure they were out of the way back with their people. 

Karkat was waiting at the back entrance as Dave pulled around the darkly window tinted car. 

“What took you so long?” he snapped as he threw the body into the back of the car. 

“Oh you know the usual, wracking up hundreds of dollars in damages for a basic protection job.”

“Did you have to go and make that ridiculously ostentatious performance? You know there were several other things you could have done that were not that.”

“Don’t be such a buzzkill. That entire display was begging to be smashed. Plus they’ll just pay someone to rewind the damage-”

“And that person isn’t gonna be you?” Karkat snapped.

Dave didn’t respond, suddenly despondent in his thoughts. It was something he used to be able to do. The shattering of glass, letting the pieces fall back together with a wave of his hands. He felt a pang of painful anxious nausea and he shook his head even though Karkat wasn’t exactly looking at him.

“You smell like wine,” Karkat said.

“Duly noted,” Dave replied with a sigh as they peeled away from the hotel. 

\---

 

The next day the waiter from the bar has been through processing and was ready to be questioned. Dave stood outside the window, watching them. He’s almost surprised by Karkat’s presence when he arrives.

“Oh hey man, our first interrogation, are you excited?” 

Karkat rolled his eyes at him. 

“They found a home cooked murder solution on them when we brought him in. Also, they’re Rage and I can already tell you both of us are woefully unprepared for this encounter.”

“Isn’t the person you live with Rage?” 

“Yes, so I’m obviously speaking from experience.”

“Yeah okay whatever, let’s get on with it,” Dave sighed and pushed open the door.

The man looked up at them, still maintaining the same bored expression. “Listen you got the wrong guy,” he said with no attempt to sound sincere. 

Neither of them granted that a response. Dave pulled out the chair from the opposite side of him and sat down. The chair scraping the floor echoed in the room.

Karkat coughed. “Okay skip the BS. What were you doing masquerading as a waiter on the evening of October 7 with a solution of what the lab described to me as, ‘slow acid-based deterioration of your innards’.”

The guy grinned. “Listen Level 0, not everyone in this city is okay with being run by some assholes who don’t have powers. You just want to control people like me because we scare you.”

The statement gave both Dave and Karkat pause. 

“You’re a Greater Tier sympathizer. It wasn’t even because they were a troll. But someone put a hit on an ambassador because they’re a non-Tier?” Dave asked incredulously. 

The man scoffed. “Oh come on, you fucks in blue don’t have to be all masquerading like that isn’t a thing.” His eyes zeroed in on Dave, who has a hand gripped firmly on his knee under the table. Karkat took a step forward behind him. 

“Doesn’t the thought of someone without powers taking advantage of you make you mad? The Tiered are superior, we deserve to be in control. If we let the weak into power they’d take advantage of you. They’ve already started.”

Dave couldn’t help it, his eyebrows rose from under his shades. Karkat noticed the hesitation.  
“This is stupid and he’s already given everything we need to know. Hand him off to-” Karkat started but Dave held out a hand. 

“Who hired you?” he asked calmly. 

The man grinned. “You’re all stupid sheep. If you can’t figure it out by now he’s already controlling you.” 

Dave stood up. “I’ll give you one more time…”

“Dave, let me,” Karkat interrupted. Dave turned his head back to look at him. Karkat’s face was set, his eyes bearing down on their interrogee. He relented and gestured for Karkat to take his place as he moved to the opposite corner of the room.

The following exchange confounded him. Dave was no stranger to interrogations. He’d done tons with Aradia. But never in his life had they extracted something so easily from someone as Karkat. 

“We have enough information to pin your for attempted murder. It’s a five year minimum, but with the government as precarious with these issues lately I think it would be easy to boost that up to fifteen. Despite your derision with non- or low-Tiers, I happen to know some pretty powerful people that owe me. I’d love to let my Thief of Life friend to siphon off a few years of your life before we toss you in the slammer for the short remainder of your pathetic lifespan. Why don’t you let that froth around in there for a few? Poetic irony for someone who hates normal people.”

The man’s nostrils flared and his hands tightened into fists, but he didn’t speak. 

“Or I could just let you off if you give us a name.” 

The man stayed silent but his eyebrows furrowed. Karkat scooted out the chair and gestured at Dave.

“This is a dead end. Lets-”

“I don’t have a name. It was a dude who called himself the Doctor. Some courier left me a package, I didn’t see the guy, I swear.” The note of desperation in his voice was unmistakable. Karkat had actually scared him. “It was enough money. He told me when and where. He told me what to bring. I just needed the money.” 

Dave met Karkat’s eyes and found that he was smirking at him. He wanted to frown but he didn’t let his blank face change and betray his thoughts. 

They exited the room and as soon as Dave closed the door he spoke. “So you actually gonna let him off?”

“No, I let Pyrope run some info on him. He’s wanted for a bunch of stuff, it’s actually kind of lucky we hauled this guy in,” Karkat explained. He stopped and let out a long breath.  
Dave itched. 

“He got to you,” Karkat said, an observation more than anything.

Dave found that his mouth was suddenly a desert. He could barely squeeze out the words, “Yeah, well, nobody wants to end up like Jane.”

Karkat palmed the folder and slapped it against the back of his hand, momentarily jerking Dave out of his nervous thoughts. It was going to be a long week.

\---

“So what are we on our way to now?” Karkat asked. 

Dave’s face was as placid and unreadable as ever. “Suspect in the cherub drug ring case. Roxy put us up to this one. Well, it was just a noise disturbance report but the Seer on dispatch thought otherwise, reached out to confirm with Roxy.”

They rolled up to the grungy suburban house, nested deep off a main streetway. A rusted gate surrounded entirely yellowed grass. 

Dave knocked on the peeling door. A troll in a grungy tank top answered. 

“What do you two fucks want,” the troll spat out. 

“Detective Strider, SPD. We got some reports of a noise disturbance here, you mind letting us in to discuss?” Dave said as he peered down the dim hallway. 

The troll snorted. “You’re lucky I ain’t cull you just for stepping on this porch.” He started to close the door but Dave was swift. He stuck his foot out, catching the door before it shut. “Now now let’s be civil here.”

He shoved open the door and let a sword fall out of his specibus into his hand. The man turned to scramble back into the hallway. Dave was faster. He kicked him over and stepped on his back. He took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting and observe. 

The shoddy home was a mess. A once beige carpet appeared nearly brown. The ceiling had a patch of patch mold from a leak.

But what Dave noticed were toys strewn about. His eyes snapped down to the man, stepping off of him. The mercy was fleeting, he leveled a kick into the man’s side. 

“Get the fuck up you sorry sack of shit.” The man started to lift himself but then Dave shoved him against the wall and held his sword out below his chest as he rendered pressure onto the man’s shoulder.

“I’m going to only ask this once. Got any of that sweet, sweet Trickster dust? Some little birdie told us we could expect a little to pass through here.”

The guy laughed. “What ‘dust’? You pigs are just here because I’m a troll. Just because your partner is one doesn’t mean shit. What’s he even good for with those baby horns. Fuckin sellout.”

Dave frowned and put his sword away, giving the man one more decisive shove before straightening up. 

“Karkat?”

He turned to see Karkat glaring angrily into the suspect. 

“Can you keep an eye on him? I’m going to take a look around.”

“Fucking whatever,” he replied, but he decaptchalogued his sickles anyway to hold one over the guy’s neck. 

Dave elbowed into the kitchen, lit with a single hanging light bulb in the center of the kitchen. In the center was a wooden table, the only clean surface he can make out. The rest of the counters were covered in dirty dishes and trash. _It’d be a mess to try and search through all this shit._

It was probably not worth it. Dave continued through the kitchen to another grungy hallway. He noticed more toys in the corner and and let the anger he’d began boiling when he first walked in the door start to simmer over in his chest. 

That’s when he heard it. The shriek of a grub, up on the floor above him. His eyes flashed back to the entryway and everything went red.

From within him he pulled out time loops. Three Daves, yanked from unviable, invalid universes appeared. One yanked Karkat back while the other held down the man and started to beat into him. 

When it was over and the man was a bloody pulp on the ground the other Daves fell dead, unable to continue existing without the support of a valid Time user. 

\---

Dave sat outside on the porch of the house in the aftermath. His hands loosely rested on his knees as he looked at the ground with a faraway expression on his face. Someone had to come retrieve the grub. 

Sirens lit up the yard from the ambulance on the street coming to pick up the man. What a shitshow. 

Dave clenched and unclenched his hands. No, that man deserved it. 

No child, human troll or cherub, should ever be raised like this. 

Karkat was practically frothing at him. “You pulverized our suspect, Dave. You took one of Roxy’s leads and pummeled in front of my face!”

“Stop exaggerating he was just a nobody they were using, he didn’t know shit except for when to open the door.” Dave replied but doesn’t even look at him. “What’s the matter Karkat, can’t handle the sight of a little blood? I was defending your troll-god honor, you should be thanking me.” Ironically he felt sick to his stomach and was probably going to hurl within the hour. 

“I’m not even going to bother answering that. I didn’t even know what was happening so that I could help you take the fucker out! How could you possibly make that many clones of yourself like that? That was-” Dave cut him off because he grabbed Karkat by the shirt and shoved him up against the wall. The adult sized troll was only slightly taller than him but he could still push him around. He tried not to get lost in the fact that this was the closest they’d physically been since- 

“Listen you little shit. If I ever hear you talk, mention, write about or communicate anything of what you just saw I will send you myself to the same place of misery I just sent that guy. Is that fucking understood? Now I’m going to go write the fucking report and we will never speak about this again. I will take all blame for this happy little accident that just happened.” 

He loosened his grip Karkat shoved him back. “I was beginning to maybe think other way but no, you are actually a psychopath, Strider.”

“You don’t even know the half of it.”

The next week went by rather uneventfully in their division of issues. But the tension since that day was growing and had no sign of stopping. Dave was snide, refusing to time travel at any opportunity. Karkat carried round after round of questioning with little to go on. 

After a completely shit round of tailing someone after a troll-related robbery he snapped.

Dave was, almost entirely, minding his own business and catching up on reports.

Karkat spun around behind him. 

“I can’t fucking do this anymore. Strider, turn the fuck around.”

Dave rotated his head only barely to regard him out of the side of his shades. “No man, fuck off. I’m busy.”

“No, Strider. You and I need to _talk_. Turn the fuck around.”

Dave didn’t stop pretending to work. “There’s nothing to talk about Karkat.”

“You are absolutely shittiest partner. I seriously cannot deal with your bitter ass anymore. Just fucking lay it on me Strider.”

That got Dave’s attention. He circled around in his chair.

“Listen asshat. I don’t know how many times I can possibly reiterate this, but there is nothing to talk about! I got drunk, I did something incredibly stupid, and I am telling you for the last time I don’t like you like that so stop fucking asking me.” 

Karkat facepalm was audible. “Are you serious? This is the shit you were worried about? You wanna know what I’m talking about? Your stupid powers and the fact that you haven’t talked about them with me a single goddamn time. The fact that you keep shitting on me for being weak despite the fact that -guess what asshole- I’m still kicking. You have been near useless every time I ask you for the slightest Time favor. And I’m not even talking about that one day! I’m well aware of your endless platonic hate for me, I just wanted you to get it off your chest that you can’t stand having a complete weakling of a partner.” 

“No, you don’t get to load this off on that. Don’t act like you just didn’t totally bait me.”

“Yeah go ahead and dig that hole a little deeper Strider, see if I give a shit. None of this changes that this entire time we’ve been together you have been significantly more useless than I have been in my entire lifetime which is really saying something. You know I was warned about that giant stick up your ass but I didn’t realize how deeply lodged up in there it was.”

Dave grabbed his jacket and left. He couldn’t deal with this right now. The anger bubbled up ceaselessly as he drove home. 

Eventually the anger subsided and left a gripping sensation in his chest that he couldn’t identify.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is not dead! however, I am in grad school and so updating is not always easy. thank you for your patience!


	4. Chapter 4

When he got home and passed Rose’s study the door opened.

“What the-” Dave jumped. “Jesus, Rose, you know I hate that.”

Her face was completely pained. “Dave.”

“Hey don’t mind me, rough day at work today. You know the ‘ole deal. Annoying perps, stolen things that won’t show up. Nothing to spank at. Er. A lot of these cases got issues that need hammering out, you know maybe I should go back into work to look over those files again. Lucky you, you don’t even need case files because ha, the information is already there for you.” 

“Dave,” she said, firmer.

“Uhhh yeah okay I’ll come in,” he relented and went to sit in his usual spot. Rose sat on the other side. She stuck her hand out and as habit he placed his shades in her hands. He took in one long deep breath before speaking. 

“Oh, I, uh, I flipped my shit all over the other day, and, oh, _Karkat fucking knows now_.”

“I’m worried about you, Dave,” she was impossibly quiet. 

He let out a long, heavy sigh. 

“I’m so sorry, Rose. I just… I just want to help people but I don’t want to lose what we have. Forget having any rights, I couldn’t handle it if I lost you like John lost Jane. Do you know what would happen if people found out what Roxy was really capable of? She’d be their slave. You’d be their slave. They’d lock Dirk up. And now Karkat saw what I did… Sometimes I wish I could tell them about what happened to me. What’s happening to me. Sometimes… I even wish Karkat could understand. Rose, you don’t know how bad it’s gotten. Without Aradia I’m nothing.” 

Rose cocked her head to the side. “It’s okay to let people in, Dave. We couldn’t have done this forever. I don’t foresee Karkat doing anything.” She pondered for a few seconds. “Do you really think it would be the end of the world if he found out?”

“Well considering he hates me I’d like to not think about it.”

“Dave,” Rose’s voice was pitying. “Karkat doesn’t hate you.”

Dave wasn’t looking at her. He was bouncing his leg and frowning. Something she said…

“Rose, did you tell someone?”

She bit her lip and looked down on the floor. “I won’t beat around the bush with you. I told Kanaya.”

Dave leapt off the couch, eyes wide in shock. “No. Rose. Shit, you didn’t, did you?”

She avoided his gaze and shook her head. “I… I couldn’t bear it anymore. She was going to find out anyways, I was inevitably going to have visions around her!” She finally met his eyes, and it was too intense without his glasses. He felt the urge to grab them off the desk. 

“What if you guys break up? What if she accidentally tells someone?”

Rose was shaking her head. “I’d see it Dave, I would know. Even if she were to stop loving me, I’d know. That’s what it means to be a Seer. This is my curse and my blessing. If I chose to open my mind up even more, as much as my power wants of me, I couldn’t take it.” When she stood, her hands were in fists. “How could you bear it? Don’t you want to trust someone that’s not us?” 

He noticed a rising glow in her eyes. “Rose, stop. Stop! Don’t fortune tell for me… “ Damn, what would stop her? “I can figure it out!” No change. “I need more _time_!”

The light in her eyes started to fade and he breathed relief. 

For a minute both of them stood there, breathing heavily. Rose leaned over her desk and picked up the glasses. “Please, Dave. We’ll be fine, you’ll see.” 

He took a deep breath in and nodded. “I’ve had my head up my ass for a long time.” 

As Rose handed Dave his glasses she smiled. And then hugged him, and for a few seconds Dave felt as if it all might be okay. 

\---

When Karkat got into work the next day there was an iced beverage on his desk. It was sleeved and printed with the name of his favorite coffee shop. He cocked his head to the side as he poked it, some condensation rolling off on his finger. 

Frowning, he picked up the drink and took a hesitant sip. Huh, iced coffee the way he always orders it with Kanaya. 

Something caught the side of his eye and he turned his head to look at Dave’s desk. 

On the corner of the desk was a hot coffee with the same logo as the one he was holding.  
Dave didn’t say anything or turn to look at him, he continued working and flipping through paperwork. 

Karkat settled in and continued to sip the coffee. 

Hm. “Uh, Dave?” He spoke hesitantly.

“Yo,” Dave said. 

“Thanks for the coffee,” Karkat said. 

“Don’t mention it,” Dave replied, inscrutable as ever. 

—-

Dave was not really paying attention to the chatter on the radio.

They were finishing an assignment and passing the time when Karkat picked up on a broadcast.“Shit- Dave. We need to go back.” 

“What do you mean we need to go back? I don’t want to go back and face the mountain of paperwork can we just hang out and not do shit on the clock for once?” 

Things had been going well. They’d both come to a mutual understanding, though Dave knew Karkat was still burning with curiosity as to why Dave got so agitated and closed off whenever his abilities came up. And even despite Rose’s encouragement, he couldn’t bring himself to tell Karkat yet. Or anyone. And for some reason, Karkat understood. Or didn’t say anything, at least. 

The last week had been much more productive. A lot of troll-human issues settled, cases where humans didn’t understand what the limit of quadrants meant, or trolls violently taking advantage of that fact. 

But what was the most amazing sight for Dave was how flawlessly Karkat worked with each species. Dave felt like a useless accessory, brought on any of his cases. 

Karkat, when not busy yelling, could navigate intricate relationships like the back of his hand. He understood every relationship dynamic possible. 

And he cared, so goddamn much, about his people. His intense loyalty made Dave yearn to have earned it. 

And so despite it all, Dave continued to not use his powers, Karkat did most of their job, and somehow they fell into something… resembling partnership. 

“One, you are the worst cop in history. Two, no, we need to fucking go back.”

Dave obviously missed the call signal and was completely lost. “What was it for?” 

“Inter-species, obviously. That’s why I noticed in the first place, like we’re fucking supposed to.”

“Ugh I’m gonna call in and see what’s up,” Dave’s yanked over the radio before Karkat can stop him. 

“That’s not….” Karkat started, and then deflated mid-sentence, “necessary”. 

“Dave Strider to dispatch, calling about the India Sierra Code 6, go ahead,” he called in.

“We have a highblood by the name of Makara. He was hauled in by Classpect misuse but this qualifies as an interspecies issue. Break.”

Dave heard a smack and turned to see Karkat with his head in his hands.

“Dispatch, what exactly is the issue?”

“He was using highblood powers on a group of students. Possible link with a homicide uptown. He’s here for questioning, we have a Mind tier on hand who is handling him until you can come in.”

“Copy. On our way.”

“Strider, he is specifically requesting the presence of Detective Vantas.”

Dave sideyed Karkat, who had his hand over his mouth in horror. “He reads. Over.”

Dave put the radio back. His face was blank as ever.

“He relapsed okay! I knew he wasn’t doing well. I knew he wasn’t going to therapy. He’s been on this bender for several days.”

“Karkat! Karkat. Calm down. Who the fuck are you talking about?”

Karkat sighed heavily and put his hands back in his lap, where he’s also resting his eyes. 

“It’s… my ex-moirail.”

Dave and Karkat were mostly silent on the way back to central. As they were getting out of their car Dave looked at Karkat. “You honestly have a drug addict murder happy clown as a moirail? He’s been brought in before you know that right. The guy is bonkers.”

“Yeah and I’ve bailed him out every time! So the fuck what. Mind your fucking business.” As an aside, “... and we’re not moirails anymore.” 

“No no no man. This is my fucking business. I am your partner and we got dragged out of this nice relaxing day for once to deal with your best butt buddy or whatever you two go as.”

“Holy shit Dave you could literally not be any more culturally insensitive. And that is your fucking job!”

“Shut up, and that is so far from being true. My job is to make sure humans, trolls, cherubs and more don’t kill each other.”

“Are you motherfucking serious? One, get it through your pan that he and I are no longer together. Two, you are completely shit at your job.” 

Gamzee didn’t look up when they got into the interrogation room. He had a glazed, almost dreamy expression. 

Karkat snapped at him almost immediately. “Gamzee you had better have some fucking good reason why you were using chucklevoodoos on a bunch of fucking kids. Human kids for that matter. Has your pan really rotted through that much?”

“Nice to see you too Karkat,” his head lolled as he drawled it out. 

“I am NOT bailing your ass out of here again. Don’t even think of calling Terezi- oh god why are you giving him that look.”

Dave looked up from some old notes on Makara and realized the clown that staring at him. 

“Awww c’mon Karkat. I just wanted to meet your new partner. You haven’t told me anything about him.”

“That’s because you haven’t been home in three weeks!” Karkat nearly shrieked at him.

Gamzee appeared to ignore him. “So it’s the infamous Dave Strider huh?” he smiled. “Sorry bro, I gotta make sure you’re good enough to hang with my best bro,” he sighed before the air in the room took on a completely different nature. 

Dave’s hand went to his chest and he found himself falling to the floor as pure fear pounded through him. The air was vibrating and he could barely make out Karkat screaming to get Mind in the room. 

He laid on the floor gasping for air as the memories him and were broadcast out.

He saw it all: his oldest brother, standing over his bed with a sword. Being held over the edge of the roof and told to hold on. 

His palms were tacky and he struggled to lift himself up the floor but couldn’t find the strength.  
He was vaguely aware that someone, or two someones, were lifting him up and dragging him out of the door. The fear only slightly abated. He can tell that he’s on a soft surface now but the world won’t stop moving and shifting and making these terrifying shapes.

 

“--holy shit Dave oh god Dave are you okay?” Someone was shaking him awake. He moaned and opened his eyes to find his head too close to Karkat leaning over him. He’s holding a cup of water and has a grip on his forearm. His head rolled to the side and he saw the Mind tech there, her hand a comforting weight on his as the fear drained out of him. 

He took in a deep shuddering breath and closed his eyes. He was okay. He was safe. 

The tech finished draining the fear out of him, bringing him to a level of comfort that he hadn’t even had before he’d walked into that interrogation room with Karkat’s crazy ex-lover roommate-- he realized with a start, Karkat’s stupid roommate. Karkat was holding the water out to him, his face twisted with clear guilt.

Dave started up out of the chair and slapped the cup of water out of Karkat’s hand. “What the fuck did he do to me?” he yelled. The Mind attendant stood and stepped back. The loss of her touch meant the rest of his emotions came swirling in even stronger. 

Karkat’s words were a rushed mess. “Oh, god, Dave, I am so, so sorry jesus fuck. I should have never let you in that room with him I should have known--” 

Dave kicked the chair back away from him and used the momentum to shove Karkat, who was still spilling apologies. 

“Stay the fuck away from me! I don’t want to be-- I don’t want to be anywhere near you!” he yelled though he had one hand still firmly grabbing a handful of Karkat’s shirt. Karkat’s face slackened and he went quiet, staring at Dave.

The moment lasted an indeterminate amount of time before Dave let go and exited the lounge room, leaving Karkat and the terrifying experience behind him. 

It was an absurd kind of agony, the one step forward, two steps back kind of dance he continued with Karkat. They’d been so, so close to something, not even resembling friendship, but at least a mutual trust and respect. 

Karkat didn’t stop messaging him, and Dave didn’t respond. He’d asked for a few days off, and he had been given them. 

At some point Karkat broke and instead of asking him to come back to work he admitted to something Dave had not known before: 

CG: HE WANTED TO GET BACK AT ME  
CG: HE NEVER FORGAVE ME FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO TAVROS  
CG: ITS WHY HE KEPT DISAPPEARING  
CG: JUST COME BACK  
CG: I SWEAR I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING 

Dave stayed home, staring at his phone and debating messaging Karkat back. What would he even say? Gamzee’s Rage attack had torn open his memories and left the cuts raw all over again, almost as if Dave could feel them being struck into his skin again. 

For some reason he wanted to see Karkat. He wanted him to know. 

—

When he strolled into the office that Thursday, Karkat stood up out of chair and faced him with a gaze that struck Dave as _pitying_. It immediately threw him off. He nodded stiffly and moved to sit in his chair and get back to work but Karkat threw out a hand. 

“Wait!” Karkat said and then stilled. He seemed conflicted, or indecisive, and his mouth opened and closed but no words came out. 

“Uh… yeah?” Dave offered unhelpfully, praying that Karkat would let it go, just allow them get back to that uneasy truce they’d built. He shifted uncomfortably. “Listen, we can just drop it?” 

Karkat’s eyebrows scrunched down. “I— I—-,” he started. “No!” He snapped. Dave almost jumped. “I’m tired for brushing this under the rug! I owe it to you now. Fuck, I owe you at least this.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Dave said quietly and looked away. He didn’t have any fight in him anymore. There wasn’t even a point. 

Karkat shook his head. “Please, Dave… Let me explain.” He waited as Dave stood there watching him, unmoving and unreadable behind his shades. After a moment Karkat relaxed a bit and motioned for Dave to sit down in his chair before getting up and checking the hallway for anyone stepping through. Then he went back to his own chair and turned to face Dave, who watched him curiously.

“The reason why Tavros’s case is classified is because nobody understands what happened,” Karkat began to explain in a quiet voice. He rolled one of his shoulders as he recalled the story. “We were out on a case, nothing too crazy we were just following up on a gang of troll kids causing some trouble. I think we stumbled onto Crew territory-- not like we knew that at the time, at least. Something strange happened as we head up to the top of building for the lookout point. It was if someone took control Tavros’s body… and he just stepped off the roof. Just like that. I think they tried to do it to me but it didn’t take. And well, you know the rest. Even the best Life healers can only do so much for severed spinal cords, those nerves don’t grow back…”

Dave knew to read between the lines- Karkat had been a suspect of course, because who could believe that Tavros had just walked himself off a roof? But he knew that Karkat hadn’t done it. Karkat would never do that. 

“And you know the thing that messes me up the most about that now?” Karkat continued, though now he wasn’t looking at Dave. He was looking at the wall, eyes far away. “I think I could have saved him. That night, in the fighting ring? It was the same thing. I know it. And I saved you… but I couldn’t save him.” 

The conversation was too intimate. Dave could barely stand it, but he needed to say something. 

Almost as if acting of its own accord, he reached out through the space between their seats and rested his hand on Karkat’s where it lay on the arm of his chair. 

After all they’d been through in that last month, he’d never seen Karkat look like this. Dave didn’t like it, would do anything to make it go away. He squeezed his hand and struggled for words. Why was he so bad at this? Why couldn’t he ever just say what he wanted to?

“You… You did what you could,” Dave said lamely. Karkat nodded but didn’t look at him or say anything. 

“For what it’s worth I’m sorry about it, about everything… especially about your brother.” He avoided Dave’s gaze. “You never deserved any of it.”

“What?” Dave said. The statement had come out of nowhere, almost as if he’d been slapped. “How do you…” Pieces started to fall together- Karkat’s sudden willingness to spare details, his hesitant dropping of the antagonistic conversation. “How do you know that?” 

Karkat sucked in a breath. “The Rage attack took your fear and magnified it upon everyone in radius,” he admitted. “I thought you knew. Goddammit, Dave. I am so fucking sorry. I just… shit. I just understand now… I understand everything and _I’m so sorry_.”

Dave started to stand up, shaking now, but Karkat now had a hand on his knee and was pressing down. “Please don’t leave again,” Karkat said. Dave shoved him away and moved for the door. 

“What else did he show you?” he asked, panic dripping into his voice.

Karkat watched him, confused. “I… I don’t know Dave! That was it! I’m not going to rehash your worst fear again!” 

“Tell me!” 

“It was just your brother, Dave. What he did to you. I swear that was it.” 

Dave stood there, waiting for any sign that Karkat knew the secret of his failing abilities- but he gave no indication of it.

They stared at each other for a few long moments before Karkat spoke again. “Why is it that pretty much everyone does what I expect them to do except you, Dave? You never do what I expect, ever.” He chuckled dryly. 

Dave found himself relaxing at that. “Let’s just… let’s just do our job, alright?” He said hesitantly. 

Karkat nodded and Dave went to sit down.

The rest of the day saw him distracted by the curl of admiration for his partner that had wrapped around his stomach and would not abate.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> huh i went back and read this and decided i didn't hate it so maybe i'll keep working on it

On the evening of the Shields fundraiser they’d planned in the previous weeks, Dave and Karkat fell in line with the other floor servers without an issue. No one took a second look at them. Someone directed Dave to take off his glasses and he slunk away before he could be noticed again. He brushed the hidden headphone set in his sleeve, comforted by its presence. 

“All settled up here,” Equius reported from the surveillance room. “Relaying to Sollux, should have some solid intel in… 15 minutes.”

“I think Kanaya is out of commission,” the Thief reported through the headphones. “She’s either sick or this place is giving her the heebie jeebies.”

“I concur with the latter statement,” Equius replied. “There’s a lot of… nothing.” 

“You realize that is going to be completely useless for Karkat and I by now right?” Dave muttered through the system. 

Karkat passed Dave, “Shut up, Sollux works as fast as he can and you know it. How fast could you sort through months on months worth of footage, Strider?”

“Not the time, Vantas,” Dave muttered back as he floated by to pick up a tray of champagne.  
Karkat is given a platter of caviar. 

Karkat had been angry since this morning before Dave got there and had been practically refusing to look him in the eye. A blush sat low on his cheeks. Dave couldn’t stop looking at him, and each time Karkat noticed he would glare at him so hotly Dave thought it would burn through him.

Karkat was pissed off about something and Dave had no clue why. He’d maintained a cold shoulder throughout the afternoon infiltration of the event. Dave was honestly relieved to hear Karkat speak to him at all.

Instead of ruminating of his continued issues with his partner, Dave found himself surrounded by well dressed and connected people and focused on that. He didn’t identify anyone very recognizable but he also didn’t consider himself knowledgeable in that department. 

Dave and Karkat shook heads at each other whenever they passed by, signaling a lack of new important information.

Dave eyed the mayoral candidate in the corner, smiling and taking pictures with guests. While blending in to his role he internally grumbled about being on this job. It wasn’t a good fit for him or Karkat, they really were just extra backup. It didn’t feel good to know that and he wondered when they’d be back on their own. How long would it take to fully earn back the chief’s trust? The last few dramatic weeks certainly hadn’t helped either.

“I need to cover the floor. Can someone come cover Kanaya for me? I think she’s having an aneurysm,” Vriska said. “Homegirl didn’t sleep a wink last night.”

“Already on the way,” Dirk replied. 

\--

Dirk and Vriska exchanged posts with only nods. Kanaya lay on the bed with a towel full of ice on her forehead. She writhed and turned over on her side. It wasn’t a common sight as Dirk was so used to her in an impeccable state. Now even the dress she had intended to wear to the event was wrinkled. 

“They’re starting the announcement portion,” Karkat relayed through the system. “Shields is speaking.” 

Dirk observed with raised eyebrows as Kanaya sat up from the bed. She looked like a zombie and he’d be freaked out if he didn’t know her as his sister’s girlfriend already. He reached out with his power and touched at her green aura, which seemed to further stir her. 

“The space is sick,” she moaned. 

 

“Oh my god I hate this rich people garbage,” Dave cackled. 

“Pay the fuck attention Strider!!” Vriska reprimanded him. 

 

“I have to fix it,” Kanaya gasped out to Dirk, who took a step away, honestly debating taking a run from the room. He didn’t have an opportunity though as the room shifted and fell dark. It was like one box piling into another as four walls, a folding sheet of silk, falling to the ground. Gravity settled a little heavier on Dirk and then lifted and as the dimness finally dissipated he determined there were two people, completely emaciated, sitting in the corner of the room. 

“Holy shit.” Dirk said aloud as Vriska’s voice crackled through.

“What the fuck did you guys do,” she said lowly.

“You guys gotta get out of there, Shields just stopped his speech in the middle,” Dave said through the comm. 

“He’s knows something up. All of you need to get out of here now,” Karkat seconded.

Gordon started to give quick directions as Dirk thrust Kanaya onto her feet and dragged her into the hallway. 

“This guy makes collapsible dimensions! Real, fucking, collapsible dimensions!! And he’s been hiding people in them!” Dirk was yelling through the line. “And I thought Jade’s shit was unreal holy shit shit shit shit.”

“Equius, shut off all the video feeds,” Gordon commanded. 

“I’m already out of there but I did, it should take them a few to figure it out.”

Gordon’s calm but slowly-descending-into-hysterical voice lead them into a stairwell. “I can’t get you guys out of there, you need to make a diversion. I’m sorry!!” His voice blanked out of the feed. 

Dirk turned to Kanaya. “Can you fake cry?”

“Uh, no,” she replied, eyebrows scrunching down as she looked at him.

“Okay, well, I can.”

He sat down on the steps of the stairwell and started bawling. 

Kanaya shrugged hopelessly as a group of suited men came through the stairway. She’d heard them making their way up but Dirk was already two minutes into his shpiel. 

“CAN YOU BELIEVE STACEY JUST LEFT ME LIKE THAT?” Dirk was howling on the floor. “I JUST WANTED TO GO PA-ha-AA-ha--RTY.” He threw in some despondent hiccups, just for spice. 

She gestured at the men desperately, ‘Please just go,’ she tried as hard as possible to convey through silently flailed arms and a bewildered expression. 

Dirk started to palm his pockets for his phone. “I’m gonna - hu hu hu- callllll her!!” 

The men peered down at him awkwardly and continued shuffling up the stairs. 

Kanaya, even though they were far away, made a show of pulling him up to his feet and dragging him down the stairs.

An awed voice came through the link. “Holy shit that was incredible,” Gordon said. 

 

Back on the floor after communicating with Vriska, John was using his breath powers to knock over every standing glass of champagne in the room. A cake flew off a stable and dramatically slammed into an onlooker. Shields and the candidate stood still, watching scene unfold. Dave bit back a laugh even as the breaking glass splashed onto thim.

“Everyone get out of here,” Vriska muttered over the line. 

Dave tried to respond with a confirmation but found the line dead. He then turned and started to head out through the staff back entrance but noticed Karkat going the other way. Concerned, he followed him. Karkat broke into a secluded hallway and started to tear off the server uniform. 

“What are you doing? The exit is the other way!” Dave called as he followed him.

“Kanaya is still in there and I’m not leaving her,” Karkat answered stiffly. 

“Well then I’m coming with you,” Dave said. 

Karkat stopped and glared at him. Dave just stared back. 

“Man, what the hell has been up with you today?” Dave said. 

Karkat’s face turned into a scowl. “No, don’t try this fucking shit with me. Don’t try and act dumb again like you always do when you _very well know_ what happened this morning.”

“What happened this morning? Why the fuck are you being so weird?” Dave questioned as he followed him.

“Yeah, keep acting like you don’t know. Fucking asshole,” Karkat muttered, his face turning scarlet as they got into an elevator.

“Because I don’t know!” Dave whisper-yelled when the doors closed.

Karkat only scoffed. “You make it so fucking difficult Dave. I never know if you’re going to be friend today or not speaking to me tomorrow, or doing shit like you did earlier. I am sick of your fucking whiplash.”

“Karkat, _what the hell are you talking about_?” Dave tried one more time as they exited out of the elevator, only to be met with men with outstretched guns facing them on all sides of the elevator lobby.

“Put your hands up,” one of the men said as he reached for his radio.

Karkat glanced at Dave pleadingly but followed the man’s order. Dave begrudgingly put his up too, trying to dive inside and find his power but coming up dry. 

“Can we get an ID on the mole?” the man said into his radio.

“Don’t bother,” said a confident voice from the hallway behind the men. They recognized the voice and parted for the man as he entered the lobby space. “I know who they are.”

Dave’s eyebrows shot up. It was Lawrence Shields, the owner of the hotel they were standing in, and the alleged alternate identity of the Felt mobster Quarters. 

He motioned for the men to push Dave and Karkat forward. Two came up behind the officers and jammed guns into their back, forcing them to stumble forward. 

“Come on, boys. We’ve got some important things to discuss, don’t we?”


End file.
